The Black Beauty & The Blonde Beast
by KAT-TUN135
Summary: A midst Ikebukuro, the city that never sleeps, lay hidden many dangers besides the simple color gangs. A visitor to the city would be wise to avoid what trouble they can at any given chance, especially now, when Shinjuku's most notorious informant mysteriously vanishes taking with him any possible shred of peace left in both the city and it's black underground world.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Konbanwaaa~ let's just say I'm procrastinating when I'm supposed to be writing up a giant bio lab ^_~ Anyway, here's the first chapter to a story I hope will be long and satisfying enough to those who read it. First chapter might be a little dull, but I promise it'll get better in time, so please R&R and let's hope what everyone has to say is something I can look forward too ^^ CHEERZ! **_

* * *

_The great Orihara of Shinjuku._

_The Heiwajima beast of Ikebukuro._

Two young men, well-known for what one could do with his mental strength and what the other could do with his physical counterpart.

With with their domineering abilities at first hand disposal, one would _think_that such individuals were their own men, people who worked for their sole lonesome without having to take orders from the lowly human race; but today was one of those unfortunate days where Orihara Izaya sighed the mother of all sighs as his boss, Shiki, scolded him for botching another job just because he felt like running after a certain blonde instead.

_WHAT?!_It wasn't his fault was it?! He'd just been in Ikebukuro snitching what little information humanity had to offer him last week, when he'd suddenly been carried off his feet; flying a good three feet high arc in the air when the blonde brute had decided to interrupt the nice little conversation had been having with Mikado and his newly acquired girlfriend, Sonohara Anri - with a garbage can to the head.

Seriously, it wasn't like he'd _asked_ the inhuman monster to come howling after him with a storm of vending machines and whatnot brewing above his head - he'd just been _standing_ there, minding his own fucking business, being the sniffy informant he'd always been when that giant bulk of shit had come flying his way; _how _he hadn't seen it coming was still a mystery to him to this day - but he wrote it off as being preoccupied with how amusing it had been watching Anri glower the living daylights out of him as if she were trying to kill him with her eyes because she couldn't physically do so in front of her boyfriend.

... Though now that he was thinking the situation over, he was kinda asking for it when he'd first set foot in the idiot's territory anyway; the caveman _had _kinda told him to stay the hell out of Ikebukuro around a few ten thousand times... but hey! since when had Izaya ever listened to that pea-brained idiot?

* * *

A town and a few extra miles away, said certain pea-brained idiot wrinkled his nose, glaring through shattered tinted glasses of violet as his own boss reprimanded him for nearly killing a guy who'd been a month and three late for paying his fucking debt because he kept plundering his cash on drugs and one-nighter sluts and whatnot.

* * *

_"Haaaaahhhh..."_The two sighed loudly in their separate cities, almost unanimously - exasperation and mounting irritation becoming evident in their voices as they both mentally attempted to shut down the building urge of talking back to their bosses; in this case: Izaya back to Shiki and Shizuo back to Tom.

"HEY!" Shiki barked at his ace informant.  
_"Mou!"_Izaya grouched back, yanking his blackberry away from his ear, wincing painfully at the ringing that was still left in his head.

"PAY ATTENTION DAMMIT!" His boss barked back.  
"I was until you started _YELLING!"_The younger brunette retorted moodily, brow twitching when he caught sight Mairu, the megane (glasses) one of his twin sisters, sliding down his staircase railing armed with none other than his favorite switchblade.

Izaya twitched at the sight of it, momentarily letting whatever Shiki was saying go in through his right ear and pour straight out his left as he followed Mairu around with cold, judgmental orbs of ruby.

_Fuck, that little monster had been in his room..._

He considered yelling at her from where he was sitting behind his office desk, but let the thought slide when he remembered he was currently being scolded by a pissy Shiki - who in _NO WAY_would take well to him suddenly shouting out at his damned twin sisters when they were in the middle of a business deal.

"...Shinra... That wimpy kid knows... Yellow scarves... Suspicious... glasses girl..." - the preoccupied brunette picked up a few fragments of what Shiki was worriedly muttering away about here and there as he watched with worried eyes as Mairu began flinging his knife around like a fucking _toy._

_"...think you can do it?"_ - Izaya narrowed his eyes - ignoring Shiki's inquiry and glaring pointedly at his little sister when she suddenly flung his switchblade up into the air, fingers slipping from the handle and - oh, thank _god_- Kururi caught it.

The tensed brunette huffed softly in relief, swallowing as he sat his jumpy ass back down into his chair only to gasp and fly back up when Kururi randomly flicked her arms, experimentally throwing the blade she'd just caught towards the glass barrier between Izaya's office and the city outside.

_"My knife!"_ He yelped, dropping his phone and staring with horrified eyes at the shattered glass his precious weapon had crashed through for an agonizingly long minute as he came to terms with the fact that not only had his knife fallen out into the fucking _sidewalk,_ but had fallen _DOWN_; on the people walking outside his building; as in, fallen in a way that may have also killed someone during its plummet to the concrete - though that would be pretty funny, Izaya had to admit as he mentally pictured the look of flabbergasted shock on the humans' precious little faces when they witnessed someone fall over after being stabbed in the head with a knife that had fallen from the heavens - his thoughts broke off when Mairu started laughing her ass off like some hopeless psych patient.

"Kururi!" He barked accusingly, turning back to glare at the quieter one of his middle school sisters while she just gave him nonchalant shrug, "I thought it wouldn't go through" she muttered dully, obviously referring to the glass wall behind her stricken brother, before turning and ambling off to the kitchen in search of food with a bouncy Mairu at her heels.

"ORIHARA IZAYA YOU USELESS _DOUCHE!"_ - the brunette the two had left standing behind the desk twitched once more, feeling the tension that had been winding up since the morning ever since his twin sisters had some materialized out of basically _nowhere_in his apartment - pressuring down on his empty stomach.

"MAN, I AM TRYING TO GIVE YOU A FUCKING_** JOB**_ HERE - AND YOU'RE BUSY_** YELLING AT SOME DAMN IDIOTS?!"**_- he heard his boss howl indignantly over the phone as he collapsed back into his office chair with a final thud, reaching out with his foot to press down on the speaker option displayed on his phone so that he didn't have to bend down to pick it up.

"Well, I'm _sorry_for having sisters capable of driving my brains to hell..." the irritated informant snarled uncharacteristically, keeping his eyes on the kitchen door - simply WAITING for the moment where smoke would start billowing out of the room because he knew well enough that chaos and catastrophe followed at his sisters' heels wherever they went, much like the way it did his own heels.

_Family trait, maybe...?_- he absentmindedly pondered over the thought, waiting patiently until Shiki decided that five minutes of yelling was scolding enough for an immature twenty-three year old.

"Now for the job" he huffed hoarsely through the voice he'd just wasted on yelling. "You listening this time asshole?" He inquired.

"I'm listening, dammit - hurry the fuck up" Izaya snapped back, his faint trademark smirk brightening his face as he heard Shiki grind his teeth over the phone in answer.

"Your doc pal Shinra just called me up spouting some shit about he just had to stitch up one of our men not two fucking hours ago" he declared darkly.

"So?" The brunette on the other end of the line scoffed, "you're the _YAKUZA_, you tend to get busted up a lot, you know? I'd think you'd have gotten used to this shit by now-"

"Except the guy who shot him was a bunch of yellow scarves, idiot" Shiki hissed seriously, making the younger frown and sit up - pulling his eyes away from the kitchen his sisters had invaded as he leaned down to snatch his phone off the floor.

True, the yellow scarves were violent little freaks of nature, but ever since their leader, Masaomi Kida, had left the city with Saki - the girl he was _still _the legal guardian of - they'd been out of order; as in disbanded... Mostly, anyway - as far as Izaya knew.

So, not only was the fact that these idiots were back in action fairly disturbing, the fact that gangs like them - the yellow scarves, the blue squares, the dollars - were only left surviving in a city infested with larger mafia groups because the three gangs knew better than to mess with them, also irked him.

They _knew_ that they were only allowed to exist so long they didn't get in the way if the yakuza. Except _shooting_ one of their men didn't exactly adhere to that agreement and taking the sitaution from a serious angle, another war might erupt in Ikebukuro depending on how important this wounded Yakuza guy was.

The last gang war had been between the blue squares and the yellow scarves - and the scuffle _had _caused quite the racket; but seeing as how the _mafia _would be involved this time...

Abruptly clearing his throat after running the facts over in his head, Izaya rolled his chair closer to the table he'd set his phone down on before speaking up.  
"So?" He questioned, "who was the guy that idiot patched up?"

"My _boss"_ the man on the other end of the line growled.  
And Izaya groaned like he'd been punched in the stomach.

These knuckleheads had gone and shot the fucking big boss? What were they?! Bigger morons than that stupid_ brute?!_  
And here he'd thought Shizu-chan was the dumbest of the utter dumbest. Yet, with this the yellow scarves had just deemed themselves with the dumbass title of_ 'idiocy maximus.'_

What was this? A new species of stupid humans? Did that mean Shizu-chan had bred or something with some other equally stupid woman? Because only children bred from dumb and dumber would be stupid enough to think that they could shoot the Yakuza top and get away with it.

Izaya rolled his eyes at the thought of it, before heaving a tired sigh and letting his gaze wander back to kitchen with the question of how it was possible that his twins had kept themselves civil in his kitchen for more than five minutes, on his mind.

"So?" He asked absentmindedly, "what do you want me to do?"

"That nerdy boy knows something" Shiki replied vaguely, making Izaya wrinkle his nose.

"Subtle, much?" He snorted skeptically, "do I have to remind you that more than half this damn city is made up of -?"

"Oh, for crap's sake, Izaya - that dork who was always hanging out with Masoami!" The elder snapped irritably.

"Mikado" the brunette put in unhelpfully.  
"Yes, the kid with the air conditioning company name..."

"Ryuugamine..." Izaya grinned cheesily.  
_"Fucking SHUT YOUR TRAP AND GET SOME DAMN INFO ON MASAOMI FROM HIM, ORIHARA!"_The yakuza yelled infuriatedly from his side.

_"GOD!_ You're pissy!" Izaya yowled back, casting another worried glance to his kitchen - _And GOD! the mere presence of his chaotic sisters within a twenty foot radius from him was doing a fucking number on his usually playful attitude..._

"Fuck you - just get the info, idiot - you'll be paid loads" Shiki huffed gruffly, before snapping his phone shut while the tired brunette he'd been talking to scowled darkly at his phone before muttering irritably to himself as he locked the screen.

Sitting back in his chair, he pushed it back - shoving his feet against the floor - before getting up and eyeing the kitchen once more as he walked over to the couch to snatch his trademark fur coat off it.

"Mairu, Kururi - I'm going for a bit!" he called loudly as he slipped his arms through the parka, "think you can keep yourselves from blowing shit up?" - As if on cue, a sudden smoky blast of fire and smog exploded through the kitchen door followed up a minute later by a deafening crash which Izaya cringed painfully at.

"Iza-nii" Mairu stuck her head through the open kitchen doorway a minute later as the billowing smoke wafted above her head and out into the older brunette's precious apartment.

"I blew up your oven" she declared proudly with a Cheshire smile identical to the one Izaya himself wore when Shizu-chan came stampeding around town, while her poor brother slowly closed his eyes; gritting his teeth as he refrained from face palming and swearing up to the high heavens in front of the seventh grader.

"Just..." he breathed in deeply, eyes still pressed shut "control yourselves..." he exhaled; a loud, irritated sigh, "...please?" he added in a rare sincere voice that probably came out once every decade and usually only around these insufferable twin sister of his.

Mairu giggle in reply, calling back a _"'Kaaay!'"_as she disappeared back into the kitchen to join her twin. Behind her, Izaya sighed - hunching his shoulder as her wiggled into his coat, walking off to the door.

Not that he seriously believed Mairu and Kururi would somehow manage to control their violent streak; he'd just been hoping... And _just_ like that; _Just_ as he opened the slab of wood, one foot out of the doorway - he flinched.

_Again._

When his sisters blew up what sadly sounded like his new microwave.

"KURU-NEE DID THAT!" He heard Mairu yell accusingly from inside the flat making the young informant roll his eyes as he simply ignored her, quietly stepping out the door and pointedly slamming it shut with more force than necessary.

_... God, this unnecessarily fucked up life of his ..._

How much more fucked up could it get past this? His sisters had already torn up his kitchen, lost his favorite switchblade and managed to get his boss pissier than an insulted Heiwajima Shizuo - all in under five fucking minutes.

It couldn't get much worse now could it?


	2. Chapter 2

Except it kinda did.  
Orihara Izaya's day did kinda get the worse; like god-shoot-me-I-hate-this-life-of-mine kind of worse.

Not as soon as he stepped out the door - oh no, life had been pretty nice once he'd gotten away from his sisters and managed to clear his head up a smidge on his way to Ikebukuro - but rather as soon as he took a few laps into the city.

Surprisingly enough, it wasn't Shizu-chan that had managed to make his day worse than it already was - it was Kida.

Yes, _Kida_ - that blonde little bastard who was supposed to be all the way up in fucking _Okinawa_ according to Izaya's sources - except he wasn't. _UGH. _

_Way to make an already crappy day crappier, blondie._

He was standing there; right _THERE_ next to Mikado in front of Simon and Russia Sushi looking all smug and proud of himself - probably because of some randomly lame joke he'd just made. _Again._ Because Mikado was making that exasperated face at him again, brushing the blonde away - obviously telling to him shut up before he made an idiot out of himself.

Izaya's eyebrow twitched.  
He _loved_ the human race - yes , but that didn't mean he loved the actual humans _themselves._ To be more specific he just simply liked how stupidly _gullible_ they all were, the dumb yet forever interesting faces they made whenever Izaya revealed something godly once more with his superb abilities of putting two and two together much faster than the average stupid humans.

True, Kida was a part of the human race; but this information broker of a brunette had already lost his liking in him after he'd managed to get Saki to stop - very basically put - worshiping him; idolizing lzaya like a fucking god; not that the informant didn't consider himself one to begin with.

With the girl, he'd been able to control Kida infinitely. But Saki was on his side now and that was just plain not cool anymore. Boring little human high schooler once more.

Back when the blonde had been a mess after his gang had dragged him back into the whole Dollars mess when Mikado had first come to the city, he'd been fun to mess around; made quite the interesting subject to watch with how he led a bunch of brutes too dumb to realize that their leader was basically a _KID _who they could overthrow anytime they wanted.

He'd been fun.

Until the end when he'd dumped the very color gang he'd formed and ran away with the girl who naively thought she could escape Izaya's eye.

The informant had expected that back then, even _ANTICIPATED_ Kida's leaving the gang - and when he'd done just that, the brunette had gotten halfway annoyed at himself for having expected anything different; anything _more _from a mere high school freshmen. Humans were supposed to be spontaneous, and Kida once _had_ been one of those humans at some point of time in his younger days - six years ago when he was in seventh grade-kinda days.

And for an awkward warp of time he'd once thought of the middle schooler who'd created the yellow scarves as a kid with the potential to rebel against the layout Izaya had planned for him. Maybe he could be spontaneous like that _other_ unpredictable blonde - but _no_, this kid just _had_ to walk the life Izaya had pictured in his head and when he had, he was all of sudden...not as interesting as he used to be. Just another random human who'd acted the part the informant had dubbed him with on his mixed chess board.

Huh... So maybe it _was_ only Shizu-chan who could fuck with his expectations; being his annoying protozoan unpredictable self.

Izaya sighed through his nose, eyes wandering off the four high schoolers standing a few feet away from him to look up at the cloudy sky.

It crackled brightly with momentary sparks of white, then boomed thunderously - as if the atmosphere could detect that he was watching it.

_Wonderful - _the informant sighed again, this time through his mouth ...just what he needed on top of his uncontrollable sisters and Kida's spontaneous return to the city.

A fuck load of rain.  
And no, not the rain that consisted of a vending machines and street signs hailing down on him.

"Haaahhh..." He sighed a third time to himself loudly, wondering if he should take a moment to wallow in that un-god-like humanly emotion called self-pity.

_...Nah..._

Izaya grinned at himself, as the first crystal drops of water began to drizzle down from the sky; plopping down softly into his mop of hair and dripping onto his cheeks and face. What was the use in pitying himself when he could wander around Shizu-chan's city waiting for the thrill of the chase the protozoan would give would bring to him?

There, see?  
Some sunshine on this fucking gloomy ass day of his - they didn't say every cloud had a silver lining for nothing now, did they?

The brunette grinned cheerily, flapping his hands in his regular black jacket as he trotted up to the foursome with a sly grin.

Anri spotted him first, shuffling uncomfortably on her school shoes and huffing irritably through her nose; dark eyes flashing a color similar to the shade of Izaya's red eyes as she subconsciously tugged Mikado a little closer to her side.

The informant approaching her smirked amusedly.  
Cute, he'd admit that much.  
Did she think she was protecting him? _Pfft..._ She looked like she was trying to protect him. Fuckin' ADORABLE because she seriously thought she could take the brunette on if it came to that.

Izaya stifled a laugh as he came up in front of Saki and Kida - both of which, much to Izaya's unseen irritation - remained as calm as the fucking bucket of ice cubes his sisters had dumped on his head that morning as a wakeup call.

Well, goodbye to the jumpy flinching of theirs - he thought with an inward sigh. He'd kinda enjoyed that though...

"Izaya..." The lighter haired of the couple greeted cockily while Mikado stuttered up something including 'Orihara' in it.

"Been a while, Kida..." Izaya hummed with his usual smirk, his eyes pointedly flickering towards Saki - who retaliated with a defiant wrinkle of her nose as he walked past her and her boyfriend towards Simon who was standing under the extended roof of the Russia Sushi restaurant, taking shelter from the rain.

"You sure its safe for you to be here?" The blonde boyfriend spoke up falling into step beside the informant as Anri tugged Mikado past them - hurrying to get out of the rain and more importantly Izaya himself.

"You say that like I have something to be afraid of, Kida..." The brunette glanced back at the younger meeting darkly amused eyes of hazel, "what're you implying...?"

"You _ARE_ in enemy territory..." The boy pointed out without answering directly as he shrugged nonchalantly while they strode up to Simon.  
"Not till a vending machine hits me I'm not" Izaya scoffed almost immediately casting an instinctive glance behind him - just to keep his blind spot in check just in case the protozoan decided to use his tiny brain for once and take advantage of it.

"Kida! Back in 'Bukuro are you not?" Simon boomed cheerfully as Izaya walked straight past the man, calling to the chef, Dennis, standing behind the counter for his usual fatty tuna, when the large russian man chose to greet the former gang leader instead of him.

"Izaya..." The gray haired man inside the restaurant raised his brow at the young man in surprise as he breezed in like he owned the place; no forget that - like he owned the city which had already been called for by the arch nemesis who could randomly show up out of just about nowhere yelling into his phone and smoking like a furnace.

"Ootori~" Izaya grinned widely at him as he started skipping off to the table Anri had pulled Mikado off to - only to flinch to the side, red eyes instantly alert as he dodged a flying a knife aimed at the back of his head by a mere few millimeters.

"Oh...?" He inquired as the blade embedded itself in a far wall, before turning back to raise a thin eyebrow at Dennis.

"You will _NOT_ destroy this restaurant" the man warned coldly with suspiciously narrowed eyes as he scowled across the brunette standing at arm's length.

The informant simply shot him an amused look over his shoulder, jerking his arm smoothly out of Dennis' grip before whirling over with an exaggerated flourish to where Anri was still glaring at him like she expected him to yank out the switchblade his little sister had thrown out and chuck it in her face. Her boyfriend sat beside her taut and..._distracted_ - Izaya noted with interest as he caught Mikado nervously glancing over his shoulder for a second before quickly turning back.

Flapping his hands in his pockets for a moment he considered taunting him before deciding to push the observation aside for the time being; turning and wiggling into the far side of the spacious booth just as Simon escorted a chatty Kida in with Saki holding his arm.

"Izaya" the black man frowned disapprovingly down at the informant when he caught sight of him, "Shizuo will be mad. Fighting is bad."

"Oh, let off already!" The younger brushed him off, "I couldn't stay away from your sushi - shouldn't you be happy? I like your stuff enough to risk that idiot and his vending machines!"

Simon simply gave him a look - something halfway between a pleased smile and a worried a frown before heaving a tiny sigh and pulling out a paper pad asking Anri for what she'd like.

"So" Izaya turned to glance across at Kida who'd bravely taken up the seat beside his. "When did you come back?" He inquired, using the small talk strategy to open the conversation.

"Yesterday" the fake blonde shrugged, "why?" He hitched an eyebrow as he turned to meet Izaya's red gaze.

Well, this was a change - the information broker covered his faint surprise with a smirk. Kida had done a little growing up while he'd been away hadn't he? The younger highschool freshmen version would've usually just answered the question and looked at the ground, reason being either that he didn't want much to do with the informant in general or that he was just to scared to mutter or ask something unnecessary that might land him into trouble.

"Highschool senior eh?" Izaya questioned back avoiding the inquiry the blonde had posed.  
"I dropped school remember?" The boy retorted equally to which the informant chuckled at.

"Of course..." He hummed aimlessly while Mikado shifted in his seat again, squirming nervously as he threw another glance at the blonde sitting across from him; while Kida narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the brunette sitting beside him.

An eerie silence began to filter into the booth; Anri stubbornly fixed on maintaining her glare, Mikado squirming around and fidgeting like a child and Kida watching Izaya out of the corner of his eye all while the informant calmly sipped at the straw in the cup of Sprite sitting on the table in front of him - looking like he hadn't a care in the world - which, currently - he hadn't.

"How was Okinawa...?" He inquired, deciding to break the tense silence a moment when he spotted Simon coming around to their booth from the far end of the restaurant with a tray of what they ordered in hand.

"Fine" the blonde replied shortly, turning away from the elder when Simon appeared at the entrance to their sitting area.

"Sou?~" Izaya hummed with a smile, "why the sudden return if you liked the place so much?"

Kida turned to frown prissily at him for a moment - to which Izaya skeptically lifted his eyebrow at - before retorting, "why'd you call us out?"

"Answering a question with a question?" The brunette's brow rose higher.  
"No, I'm getting to the POINT - why'd you call us out Orihara?"  
"Oooh~ no respect, I see?"

_"Orihara!"_ The boy snapped indignantly.

"Taraiza Shunsuke" the elder retorted calmly.

Kida sniffed wrinkling his nose.

"Who?" he snorted skeptically after a minute of mulling the name over.

"Taraiza Shunsuke" Izaya repeated around the straw in his mouth, lifting an eyebrow as he gave the boy a sidelong glance, "mafia boss, you might know him" he shrugged, casting another glance at Mikado when he caught the boy silently glancing away, out of the corner of his eye.

"Turns out I don't" - he turned his attention back to the blonde when he sniffed indignantly, folding his arms.

"Well you should" the informant lifted an eyebrow at his stiff expression.

"Care to explain?" Saki spoke up from beside her taut boyfriend before he could retort, sparing a cold glance Izaya's way.

The man sitting at the far end of the booth caught her icy stare with a superior smirk that stretched when Kida frowned.

"What?" the blonde frowned as Simon set their orders down on the kotatsu in front of them, "what? what is it?" he blinked, "what do you know-?"

"Your...people...are back on the streets..."

Izaya's smirk broke out into a full blown smile when everyone turned to glance at Mikado who silently avoided everyone by staring intently at the suspicious looking sushi sitting on the plate in front of him.

"So you _know_..." the older brunette grinned at the Dollars leader.

"I saw them the other day..." the high school senior murmured in response.

"Then it's safe to say you know what they've been up to for the last few days?" Izaya hitched an eyebrow as he leaned forward on the table.

Mikado's mouth twitched before it twisted as he glanced off to the left.

"Mikado" Kida frowned from across the table at his best friend's dodgy response. "Mikado what... - what's he talking about?" the blonde frowned deeply as he sat up, "I disbanded the yellow scarves, they-"

"Tried to kill the Yakuza top dog..." the quiet brunette sitting opposite from him mumbled, his blue eyes flickering once towards Izaya who hummed in glee, sitting back against the wall, so that he could watch the scene unfold.

"They wha-?!" Kida's jaw dropped in disbelief.

"This morning..." Mikado added, still staring at the food in front of him, "someone posted a video of a bunch of yellow scarves with guns-"

"But the yellow scarves don't exist anymore!" Kida exclaimed, nearly flying up - only to be dragged back by Saki, who caught his arm and pulled him back down to the floor.

"Easy..." she soothed quietly, rubbing her small hands over his as the blonde scowled darkly at the table. Taking a moment to compose himself, the boy took a deep breath, eyes closed as he let it out in the form of a sigh.

"Okay..." he muttered after a moment silence.

"What's...this got to do with me, exactly?" the question was aimed at Izaya, despite the fact that he was staring at the wood of the table in front of him, "I _left _the yellow scarves, they _broke up _after I left - this has _nothing _to do with me-"

"Oh, contraire Kida..." Izaya laughed through his French, "this has absolutely _everything _to do with you, you wouldn't think I'd call you out for something as stupid as lunch, now would you?"

The teenager flung a glower his way.

A moment of sparking silence.

"Then if you'd be so kind to fucking _tell me _why I'm here" the blonde snapped coldly.

"You're not Shizu-chan, kid - you've got a _brain"_ the brunette retorted.

_"So?" _Kida wrinkled his nose.

_"Use it" _Izaya smiled sweetly.

Another moment of silence.

And then the boy's eyes slightly widened in what seemed to be a sudden epiphany.

"But I'm not..." he breathed.

"They think you are" the brunette sitting beside him hummed tunelessly as he flipped the blunt butter knife lying next to his plate around his fingers.

"But I'm not - I'm not responsible -!"

"And I said, _they think you are" _Izaya repeated.

"I didn't order them to do _anything! _Those _idiots _are acting on their own!" Kida gasped defensively.

"Got an alibi?" the brunette beside spun the knife expertly over the top of his curled fingers, as he rested his jaw on his palm.

"Kida was with me on the flight here this morning" Saki frowned from her end of the table, "there's _no way _he could've ordered them to do _anything _- he was sleeping the_ whole time."_

__"Except, no one in the yakuza would want to believe a pretty little girl like you" Izaya eyed her skeptically, and the girl frowned in return - turning away when she realized just how true the words were.

"So - what? You've called me out here for what now?" Kida's scowl took on something that began to resemble something uncomfortable as he stared pointedly at Izaya, "you going to clear my name or hand me over to them?"

The brunette raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well, technically I was only supposed to get information on you - but now that you bring it up-"

"ThenI'm leaving" the blonde muttered standing up, without waiting for the informant to finish.

"And go where?" Izaya called as he started to make his way past Saki who had also begun straightening up, "back out onto the streets with a bounty over your head? You sure about that Kida? These Yakuza people are _serious_ about this,I hope you understand that."

He watched from behind the boy as the younger curled a fist, attempting to ignore how real it was all beginning to sound.

"Look at the facts, boy - a bunch of your goons shoot down their boss on the day you come back to the city - wouldn't you find that to be a little bit more than _just _a coincidence?"

"Which is _why _I'm leaving. _Good bye." _and with that, he stalked out of the booth with Saki at his heels.

"Kida!" Mikado called, bouncing up from his spot, "Kida, wait! You just came back!- uhm..." he awkwardly glanced back at Izaya who simply shrugged as he reached down to dig into his jeans pocket to pull out his phone.

"I got what I wanted, go - " he nodded off into the direction the ex-gang leader had disappeared into, ignoring Anri's judgmental glare while he was at it.

"Hn, thanks" the brunette gave him a quick farewell dip of the head before rushing off after his best friend; leaving his girlfriend and Izaya back in the abandoned booth.

_"What're you planning?"_

The informant lifted his head up to glance at the girl sitting across from as he dialed Shiki's number.

"Are you implying that I'm up to something, _Saika-chan?" _he smiled at the way her features tightened.

"You always _are_, Orihara-san" she retorted equally, "I'm just asking what it is you're up to this time."

"And what _is it _that you think I'm up to, darling?"

She wrinkled her nose at the pet name, indignance peppering her complex little face as she attempted to glare him down.

"You had something to do with Kida-kun's coming back on the day the Yakuza top dog became involved in a murder attempt" she declared firmly.

"I see..." Izaya raised his brow as he lifted his phone to his ear, "care to explain how you came up with that theory?"

"It's not a theory" she frowned, "it's a fact."

"Which means you can prove it?" the brunette grinned his Cheshire smile, amused to see that the question had caught her off guard.

The girl stayed silent for a moment, mentally searching her brains for answer on par to his statement as she folded her arms indignantly across her chest. "I will..." she replied after a stretch of stillness, while Izaya stood up, "...when I find the evidence I need."

"Then good luck with finding it" the informant grinned for what seemed to be the umpteenth time at the suspicious brunette, this time in farewell as he trotted out of the booth, speaking up once more when Shiki finally answered his phone on the second to last ring.

"Got anything?" his boss inquired as Izaya stepped out of Russia Sushi, red eyes falling onto the forms of Mikado and Kida walking a few feet ahead of him.

Well, good afternoon to you _too_, boss" the brunette hummed sarcastically.

_"Izaya" _- came the indignant snap of a reply.

"Easy, easy~" the informant laughed as he started following after the pair of high schoolers, his interest piqued when he picked up the absence of Saki by Kida's side.

"Just _give me _what you fucking _have, _I don't have _time _for your damn games-"

"Masaomi's back" Izaya intervened before he could get scolded again.

Silence followed after his statement as the brunette kept in pace, walking four feet behind the blonde and his dark-haired best friend.

_"Then...?"_

"He says he didn't order his men to do anything though-" Izaya broke off, his brow rising when he caught sight of Mikado suddenly shoving Kida into a nearby alley behind one of Ikebukuro's tallest hotel towers - glancing around a minute later, as if he were afraid that someone had seen him, before disappearing after the blonde himself.

"Hn?" The brunette perked up, momentarily ignoring Shiki who'd started yelling something at him through the phone again.

"Nani, nani?" he grinned widely to himself; all his senses set off and tingling with curiosity as he casually strode over to the alleyway, cutting the call while he was at it. Shiki would yell at him later for it, but who the hell cared? He'd already been scolded at for nearly an hour that morning, what harm could another thirty minutes of it do?

Skipping across the street, he hummed softly under breath - quieting down as he slunk up to the alley Mikado had shoved his best friend into.

Sticking his head around the corner he peered for a few seconds before catching sight of target- "M-Mikado..." The blonde shoved up against the wall - pressed against the rocky surface by the taller brunette moaned softly as Mikado kissed him like the world was to end the next minute.

_"Hooo~"_ Izaya whistled ever so softly, brow rising smugly as he took in the scene of an already _TAKEN_ Mikado sucking face with a similarly _TAKEN_ Kida who seemed to be enjoying it, no less.

Oh, look! There went the first four buttons of Kida's shirt - rip, rip, rip; another tear just for the kink of it and Mikado's open mouth was sliding down over the ex-gang leader's collarbone.

"God, I missed you-"  
"A-ah! Mika...d-do w-wait, my gang - the y-yaku-kuza- n-no hickeys" Kida gasped quietly, as the dark haired brunette pressed closer to him, rolling his hips against the blonde's as he ground what seemed to be like their arousals together.

Well, well - wasn't this quite the surprise. Izaya wiggled his eyebrows as the lustful scene between the two former classmates unfolded before his very eyes.

He'd never pegged them to be the type, but here Mikado and Kida were _cheating_; on their _girlfriends;_ with _EACHOTHER. _

Damn if that wasn't the highlight of the month, God knew _what _was.

Oh, the wonderful twists and turns of humanity he still couldn't predict. It was thrilling in a way, to have someone besides the protozoan acting out of the schedule the informant had laid out for their puny lives. His thin lips stretched into a cocky smirk from behind the wall he was taking shelter behind as he lifted up his phone again, biting excitedly at his lower lip. Swiping up the camera applications up and switching the view mode to video taping before he aimed it the two youngsters.

Not that he planned to use the information anytime soon, Izaya had just learnt through experience to gather what dirt he could on people who held a grudge against him (basically, everyone in Ikebukuro sans that idiot Shinra and people like Mikado) when he was presented the chance. It came in handy as blackmail material anyway, so why not?

"...night..." - he glanced up from his phone screen, ears catching mere wisps of the conversation the two were now mumbling away to each other in; lips just barely touching as Kida nuzzled his nose up against Mikado who - now that Izaya was actually paying attention to - had grown a half inch or two taller than the blonde in the last four years - _**USP MAIL TRUCK.**_

The informant caught sight of it searing through the air not half a foot away from his head just in time to fall back, snap his phone shut and flatten himself against the wall as familiar screams of terror erupted around him.

Behind him in the alley the younger brunette had dragged Kida off too, Mikado wasted no time shoving the blonde's shirt back over his shoulders, adjusting it so that the halfway opened shirt looked presentable as his best friend cast an amused look across back out the alley.

"Heiwajima's throwing trucks now?" the blonde laughed quietly as a familiar roar of Izaya's name rattled through the backstreets.

"Trucks, mailboxes, street signs, vending machines-" Mikado sighed as he straightened back up shrugging his shoulders, "you know - the usual" he muttered rolling his eyes before glancing down at Kida as the blonde straightened his shirt.

"Ready?" He murmured once he finished.  
"Mn..." the shorter murmured softly, pressing himself up on his tiptoes - rubbing his lips against the brunette's for a short second before dropping back down.

"Now I am" he smiled faintly as another howl of a certain nosy informant's name tore through streets of the city.

* * *

_**"IIIZZZZZZAAAAAAAAYAAAA, YOU SON OF A BITCH!"**_Shizuo howled his usual battle cry as he backed up the truck he'd just thrown with his version of a spear: the nearest bus stop sign - preferably the one within his arm's reach.

Behind him, Tom groaned out loud - rubbing a hand in exasperation over his forehead as he debated whether he should attempt to stop Shizuo from wrecking the city, or going to that nice little cafe around the block for a steamy Americano.

Sparing a glance at his bodyguard and the lithe little figure that was bouncing around him, laughing like the maniac he was - the debt collector decided on a the nice Americano; turning around and stalking off down the sidewalk when Shizuo flung a conveniently positioned mailbox at Izaya.

**_"I TOLD YOU TO KEEP YOUR DAMN SLIMY ASS OFF MY TURF, FLEA!"_**

"Didn't you miss me, Shizu-chan?" the brunette called back, leaping off one of the airborne signs flying his way, so that he got enough leverage to fly up into the blonde's face before the bodyguard could understand what was happening.

Sticking his hand into the pocket of his parka, his fingers clenched - once, twice - and then the informant growled when the fact that he'd walked out of his apartment without a knife hit him.

"Fuck..." he grouched under his breath, going in for a punch at the former bartender's jaw and a kick to the stomach before pushing off with a foot on Shizuo's chest when the artificial blonde tripped, falling back.

Flipping through the air, he regained his own footing on the side of the building Mikado had been feeling up Kida behind, catching sight of the two walking out of the alley and scurrying out of harm's way as he screeched down the glassy edge he'd landed on.

_"YOU DAMNED MAGGOT!" _

__"EASY PROTOZOAN!" The informant laughed back - abruptly ducking when the blonde threw another street post his way. Lifting his head back up a moment later and glancing over his shoulder to inspect the damage, he winced on the hotel manager's behalf when a train track sign crashed straight through the glass above him, into the hotel lobby inside.

_Oooh, the Heiwajima Shizuo Damage Control Sect would have to handle that_ _- _he ducked again, slipping off the side of the building and onto the shading canopy at the front of the hotel entrance before bouncing off of it and landing on the sidewalk.

Snatching up a large shard of glass as he rose back up, he grinned manically at the blonde charging his way. He flexed his shoulder slightly, stepping to the side when the idiot kicked a portion of torn up asphalt his way - before leaping backward into the air and up onto the crumble of black stone before bending and launching himself at Shizuo.

Swinging his arm back, he stretched his bleeding fingers once before closing them back around his makeshift knife as he aimed to plunge the shard into the elder's gut- _BAM!_

_What...?_

__Izaya blinked blankly, forgetting for the moment that he was suspended seven feet up in the air when a sudden blast of pain seared through his raised arm.

Under him, Shizuo frowned - half happy that for some reason that damn _flea _had seemed to lost control of his orientation, and half sincerely confused on why it was suddenly raining _blood- __**BAM!**_

_**"AH!" **_**- **his frown deepened when the informant let loose an uncharacteristic _scream _after the second blast. Lifting his head farther back, and shading his eyes against the sun, Shizuo took a step back, eyes narrowing in genuine surprise when he caught sight of Izaya's form plummeting through the air like a rock in water; droplets of blood dripping off his falling figure and landing with sick splashes among the faint plops of rainwater lightly drizzling from the heavens.

"What...?" he breathed inquisitively to himself when a third bang rang out through the streets, followed by the brunette flying down not half a foot away from him and crashing with a sickening thud against the mountain of torn asphalt - crimson eyes glassy, glazed over and falling shut, blood running through his bangs and soaking through his coat, dying the white fur trim of the parka scarlet.

_Silence. _

__The blonde standing six inches away from him stayed perfectly still, eyeing Izaya's limp structure through his cracked glasses for a moment, before lifting his hand up to slowly lower the shades away from his face.

"Flea?" he called experimentally.

No answer.

Shizuo scrunched his lips, wiggling his nose before tilting his head.

"Izaya?" he tried the name on his tongue after nearly ten years of sticking to calling the insufferable brunette _'flea.'_

__Still no answer.

"Hmh" the body guard breathed through his nose, dropping his glasses into the pocket on the inside of his vest, before letting his arms drop down into his pockets with a satisfied smile.

"Izayaaaaa~" he called again, with a rising grin.

Silence answered him for the third time, making the blonde grin wildly.

He was dead.

Either that, or he was extremely good at playing possum - either way, Heiwajima Shizuo didn't give a fuck, because Izaya looked fairly _immobile _which meant _he _won.

Shizuo won their game.

And damn, victory felt goo - **_BAM! BAM!_**

**__**Seconds later the world tilted, and Shizuo was suddenly staring out across the surface of the cracked street he'd been standing on half a second ago; his head _ached_ some foreign, dull pain as smoky blackness began to close around the edges of his range of vision.

"Shizu..._chan..."_ - he heard a distant voice mutter in the background - _obviously _Izaya's voice because that little piece of bastard was the only one who _dared_ to call him that; what he couldn't understand was _why _his voice sounded ten thousand miles away when it was... right... up...some...where - **_BAM! _**

**__**Shizuo felt his eyes rolling - not understanding the reason behind why they were, and then felt a sudden blackness encase everything in his forehead. A weird feeling travelling up from the tip of toes followed the darkness a moment later and he twitched abnormally as the same spark ran down his spine until the two sensations clashed in his stomach and seemed to shut everything in his body down.

**BAM! ****_BAM! _****-** A _gun..._ _- _he realized the source of the shattering noise a minute too late; right before he passed out when something thick and hot began to pool under his fingertips.

"bl...ood...?" - where his last words before an endless midnight black became the color of the world around him.


	3. Chapter 3

**SORRY! **School and senior year keep a person busy as hell if you know what I mean -_-" But hey! I got to updating and that's what matters ^^ So please! DOUZOU! And hope you enjoy \(^^)/"

* * *

Cussing, Celty Sturlson decided in silence, was something that didn't suit her clumsy nerd of a husband in the very least. Swearing upon the weirdest of diseases and surgical instruments was more of his thing; stuff like_ 'for the love of retrograde amnesia!'_ – or something just as equally …. _unique, _the ageless dullahan seemed to nod her phantom head in conclusion as she quietly inched a few steps closer to her subject of interest with a steaming cup of severely over-caffeinated coffee for Shinra nestled in her eerily delicate hands.

In her eyes – or mind's eye, seeing as how….._yeah ..._she was kinda _missing_ a head - he'd always been the idiot with peculiar tastes whether it came to women to basic food in general - not that she minded seeing as how she would've never found love had it not been for Shinra Kishitani's weird preferences.

She giggled in her own dullahan-like way; the thin sheen of black smoke rising from the surface of her neck and billowing out slightly into the vague shape of a heart as she watched her frazzled husband swear to Gods he didn't believe in as he struggled with trying to get Shizuo to sit still for a few seconds.

The blonde had shown up around an hour ago – bleeding a Niagara fall with Izaya dangling over his uninjured shoulder like a ragdoll as he himself leaned heavily on Mikado and Tom.

_"What in hell...?"_ - had been Shinra's initial reaction, mostly towards a certain passed out informant, because seeing Shizuo in such a state was old news.

Blood and blondie had been quite dandy accomplices lately with all the crap and gangs that irritable brunette creature had piled onto him, but seeing Izaya - _THE _Izaya - all bloody and limp...was _different._

Yes, different would have to be the word, because from what Celty had gathered during her last twenty years in the volatile city resembling a Japanese version of that other sleepless New York place – Izaya was probably the only creature on earth besides Simon who could handle Shizuo in rage. In other words, the only guy besides the Russian chef who could handle violence in its purest form; and rage in its purest form fell nothing short of Satan's wrath on humanity. Celty would know thanks to all the childish squabbles of theirs that she'd had to step into.

Why would someone like him, like _Izaya,_ be covered in _blood _of all things when he was the one of the rare people that could handle hell unleashed?

It was creepy, almost uncharacteristic in a way because that son a bitch _knew _how to protect himself and keep his life guarded if it was somehow jeopardized – namely by flying vending machines and whatnot.

Shizuo had just shrugged it off when Shinra had demanded an explanation, too busy with muttering to himself about how he was first going to kill Izaya - as soon as he woke up and healed himself up enough to run the hell away, of course - then kill the guys who'd shot him, then kill Izaya again because he claimed this whole incident just HAD to be all the informant's doing.

Currently he was alternating between steadily muttering a murderous _"kill him"_ and _"kill them"_ under his breath as he fidgeted on the sofa while Shinra busily bandaged a torn thigh.

Celty didn't exactly blame him.

It was kind of a law Shizuo lived by – the mystic creature had noticed it after her acquaintance of two years with him.

Anything bad that happened in the blonde's life was Izaya's fault. Even if by some weird chance it wasn't, the blonde had decided to blame him for all the shit that happened in his life - whether it be something as small as his phone dying out on him (because _somehow,_ that damned louse had rigged it to during their last fight) to the random horde of ugly looking hooligans that were always coming after him like they had nothing better to do in life - which, according to the loads of money Izaya usually paid them off with - they honestly _didn't_.

_Though this time…_

Celty cocked her neck towards the mussed up brunette lying limp and wrapped up in Shinra's gauze on the expensive mahogany coffee table sitting at the center of their living room a midst the couches and sofas littered around; staining the precious glass surface of the table with stagnant pools of thick blood, which even her husband's top class bandaging couldn't seem to soak up fast enough.

_….it seemed like whatever it was that was supposed to happen had somehow backfired…_

_'Looks like Izaya got a taste of his own medicine_' the woman almost wanted to say out loud, though she was struggling between feeling worried for the severely injured informant or being just plain smug about it. Izaya _was_ kinda an insufferable asshole after all….

…But the damage done this time seemed to be a little...much.

[So?] She was typing on her PDA in the next few minutes, as she strode into the living room to stand behind the sofa Shizuo was being treated on, [what happened?] she continued, lifting the device to hold it around his head and in front of his eyes, so that the ex-bartender himself didn't have to turn and annoy Shinra while he was at it.

"Buncha' yellow freaks..." The blonde snorted flatly, his eyes momentarily straying to Izaya's still form in front of him before he glanced back, lifting his head back to glance at the dullahan standing behind.

[The yellow scarves?] The smoke Celty was emitting billowed once more as surprise dominated her features, [I thought Kida had disbanded them...hadn't he?]

"Fuck if I know" the blonde sitting in front of her huffed loudly, giving the coffee table in front of him a jarring kick with his uninjured leg, "it's probably something this _flea _planned out anyway-" he gave the table another rough shove to emphasize his words.

"Shizuo, _PLEASE!"_ Shinra demanded irritably, batting at his former classmate's leg "let off will you?! He's _injured_ for autopsy's sake! Give him a _break _already, sheesh!" The doctor snapped tiredly as Izaya let out a muffled whimper in his unconsciousness from behind him.

Shizuo 'hmphed' darkly, but pulled his leg nonetheless as the doctor sitting on the carpeted floor in front of him worriedly turned around to check up on Izaya. "Damn annoying louse had it coming for him anyway..." he growled lowly under his, biting down hard on the smoky cigar end in his mouth.

[But Izaya doesn't control the yellow scarves...] Celty put in from over his shoulder.

"No, but his money can..." The blonde muttered back, glancing down at Shinra when the doctor turned back around to focus on him and wrapping the remainder of a long bandage around his left thigh.

[Then why would they shoot the guy who paid them off?] - Shizuo frowned across at the PDA beside his face, calm enough to see enough sense in the words to realize that what their shooters had done to the annoying informant made absolutely no sense at all, now that it was literally spelt out not two inches from his face.

He mulled over the thought for a minute before shrugging and turning away deciding that his brain was beginning to hurt too much with all this thinking. What he knew was that a bunch daredevil yellow-clad idiots had dared to try their grubby hands at killing him and had come close to doing so had it not been for his boss and the Dollars kid nearby.

He had to kill them. Yes.

Because they were idiots.

Idiots that deserved to die for shooting him without reason; or for Izaya's money - which basically counted as the same damn thing.

And then he was going to kill that damn louse lying not half a foot away from him on Shinra's table, _of course, _ because all of this _was_ probably his fault in the end. It was ALWAYS his fault; something would be horrendously _wrong _with the world if it _wasn't._

Plus Izaya was the only one who was reckless enough to set a bunch of gangs on his ass like this. It couldn't anyone else _but _that idiot's fault.

"Done?" he inquired, glancing across at Shinra as the doctor straightened up with a syringe in his hand.

"Almost..." The brunette sighed quietly as he leaned over, plucking an alcoholic swab pack from his lab coat and tearing it open. Pulling out the small wet wipe packed inside, he leaned over to his patient's arm, lifting his free hand out to wipe down the patch of skin just under the inside of Shizuo's elbow.

"What's that?" The ex-bartender frowned suspiciously at the shot Shinra was holding.

"Antiseptic" the young doctor replied smoothly as he pulled the alcoholic swab away to replace it with the tip of his needle. Piercing through the cleaned skin, he pressed down on the other end of his shot, before pulling it out and immediately dabbing at the small bubble of blood seeping from the piercing.

In front of him, the blonde stayed still - eyeing his arm, before his face began to twist a moment later.

"Wha...?" He blinked furiously as the edges of his range of vision began to blur, along with his hearing which was beginning to make things sound muffled.

"Shin...ra..." He trailed off abruptly, collapsing back and slumping into the sofa as the twenty-four year old in front of him sighed for what seemed to be the umpteenth time that hour as he pulled off his surgical gloves.

"Or a little sedative..." The doctor murmured quietly, correcting his earlier lie, while his wife let off an emotion that felt like as exasperated sigh as she rubbed her shoulder, watching on with a slight sense of guilt as the blonde began to fizzle out like one of those sparkers on July fourth.

* * *

_Yellow._

Izaya blinked slowly.

_Yellow..._

He blinked again, finding the motion difficult and sluggish to work through as he tried to clear his bleary vision.

_Yellow…._- he thought again - he could see yellow.

_Brilliant _yellow.

Like the sun…..

Narrowing his eyes he peered.

_Hair_ - he realized after a moment of scrutinizing the platinum brightness in front of him.

Yellow hair.

…

_Shizuo's_ hair.

Because Shizuo was the only guy around town who walked around boasting hair the color of the sun. Kida was a blonde too, of course - but his shade was slightly darker; a tad bit duller than Shizuo's, not to mention, longer than the strands of hair lying in a mess to the left of his face.

"Shizu-chan..." Izaya muttered, his voice sounding strange and foreign to his ears as he attempted to move a hand; disappointed to find that he couldn't - or rather, it hurt like the devil when he tried.

"Tsk..." He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth in annoyance, irritation flooding his features when he realized he was kinda _seriously_ injured. Trying his other hand, he breathed a sigh of relief when it moved with ease - okay, so it was his right hand that was fucked…

Well, _FUCK_ - that was his dominant hand; the one he wrote with, attacked with, ate with - _ugh._ He made a face at the thought of having to get used to working around with his left side.

Rolling his eyes - then grimacing, when he realized that _too_ hurt, he maneuvered his left hand around what felt like cloth…_sheets_…

_Bed. _

He made the connection quickly as he pressed the fingers of his uninjured hand down into the softness below him.

He was lying on a bed.

He was injured and lying on a bed - okay. That much he knew.

Bringing his hand up beside his face, he pressed it down into the bed - wincing painfully as he hoisted himself up on it.

Three minutes and a half was the amount of time it took him to get fully up and sitting against the headboard of the bed he and his arch rival were lying on.

Slumping back against the hard, wood surface of the headboard behind him the informant took a moment to catch his breath before looking down to gauge the injuries he barely even remembered getting.

Something that felt like a ragged hole through his right arm - just under his wrist. Another blast of agonizing pain down above his left hip - more towards the side of his stomach and spreading out onto his back; a third around his right thigh and a fourth bandage wrapped around a wound that had torn through the upper right side of his rib cage - a place that would've had him killed had it been the left side that had been shot, seeing as how his heart would've been done through. And lastly, a firm winding of guaze wrapped around his head, holding down something that felt like a guaze patch at the upper right side of his head - where it hurt the most.

He stared at the stained whitness wrapped around his leg for a minute, eyeing the glistening shade of sickening red coating it before lifting his left hand and smoothing his fingers over the soaked material. Bringing his hand back up to his face he stared, lips subconsciously pursing as he took in the tinted pads of his fingers.

He sighed quietly at the sight, mentally listing down the names of every person he knew hated him as he tried to single out which one had enough fury not to mention the guts to do this to him. They'd pay of course. Like DOGS - for even _daring_ to think that they could shoot _him_- Orihara Izaya - and get away with it.

"Hnh..." The brunette let out a quiet laugh – tone bordering on halfway psychotic - as he turned his hand around, rubbing the thin sheen of blood on the tips of his fingers in circles with his thumb as he pictured exactly _how_ he'd destroy these cocky humans of his.

First the stupid race of humans who thought trying to murder the Yakuza top dog was funny, and now this breed of daredevils.

Oh, this species.

It was becoming more and more interesting by the mere hour, it was - with all these new creatures coming out. Oh, they would pay _DEARLY_. Yes, with their families and careers and everything they held beloved - Izaya would make them fucking _pay _for turning him into a helpless _lump _of _nothing_ in front of _Shizuo _of all people.

Glancing across to his left, he eyed the blonde beside him when the man shifted irritably muttering something in his sleep. Something about killing Shinra after he'd finished dealing with the informant himself and their shooters.

_Shinra..._

Izaya turned away from him, casting a searching gaze around the room, as he pored over his surroundings.

It wasn't a large accommodation - not very much like his own mansion of a bedroom, but it wasn't all that small either – very un-Shinra-like judging from how this was supposedly his house and that Izaya had always expected him to live in _lab _rather than an actual _house _for some reason.

This place on the other hand was simple; not to mention fairly neat and pretty-_ish._

The room of a female – the informant deduced as he glanced back, turning over his shoulder and eyeing the door.

Then was this _her_ room then? - "Ah-" he jerked his head around, inwardly groaning at the alien sparks of pain that tore through him when his sensitive ears caught the sound of a creaking door.

Eyeing the room entrance wearily, he peered before sighing out loud, something resembling a pitch of relief coating his raspy voice.

"Celty..." He spoke up blearily, when the very person he'd just been thinking about walked through the room entrance, armed with a steaming cup of what smelt like mint tea and folded blanket under an arm.

She paused in her steps when she noticed that he was sitting up, waiting a moment - seemingly judging his appearance, before hurrying over a minute later and sitting down on a chair that had been pulled up beside the bed and setting down the mug of tea on the bedside table.

Reaching over past the night lamp standing on the table surface as she set her blanket down on the bed, she plucked her PDA up from the glossy wood surface, fingers skimming quickly across the keyboard as she started typing.

[How're you feeling?] Izaya read off her electronic screen, before just barely shrugging as he didn't want to make any movements that would agitate his sore limbs anymore.

"Sick" he concluded truthfully, almost smirking when he felt Celty let off an air that felt like concern.

"You're worried?" He grinned cheesily, somehow finding it in his injured body to be his usual annoying self.

Beside him, Celty could've sworn that she'd be rolling her eyes if she had a head.

'Sighing' instead and ignoring the remark, she pulled her PDA back, before typing in something else. [Do you remember what happened?]

Izaya blinked at the device before glancing up at where he figured her head was and shaking his own head no.

"Someone shot me when we were fighting..." he muttered quietly gesturing towards the blonde lying beside him with a small nod, "I hit my head somewhere after that and now..." he glanced up, giving the room a roundabout onceover "I'm guessing this is Shinra's?"

Celty moved her neck in a way that made it look like she was nodding.

[Shizuo's boss and Mikado brought you here last night after the attack] she typed swiftly onto her screen [Shizuo was saying something about how you paid the yellow scarves off to shoot him...]

Izaya snorted skeptically, "and shoot me while they were at it? What kind of an idiot do you take me for?"

The dullahan sitting in front of him tilted her neck, staying still for a minute – making it look like she was trying to figure out if he was somehow lying in his wrecked condition – before she shrugged absentmindedly, dropping her arm into her lap as she pushed the cup of tea she'd brought with her into the room towards him.

[Shinra says it'll help you feel better...] She offered, switching the subject, when the informant glared suspiciously at the cup, [it's just mint tea, Izaya - drink it] she nudged the cup further, waiting until the younger finally took it with a melodramatic sigh before sitting back in her chair.

"Time is it?" The brunette inquired after the first sip, casting an inquisitive glance towards the large window hidden behind thick, black velvet curtains to his right.

[11:45 PM] Celty typed into her PDA [Shizuo and you've been asleep since last night.]

"Shiki..." Izaya groaned in answer remembering just then that his last report to his boss had been crudely cut off when he'd stumbled across Mikado and Kida making out in that little alley of theirs.

_Damn,_ he'd been intending to call back after he'd wrapped up the fight with blondie over here but - [Shinra already told him]

"Eh?" the informant glanced across at the woman when she cut into his train of thought.

[The shooting] Celty typed [Shinra had to go down to the Yakuza place this afternoon, so he told your boss you needed a few days off while he was at it].

"Sou..." the informant muttered back, leaning back into the bed frame as he let out a tired sigh.

The silence lasted for a few minutes, Izaya quietly drinking his tea, Celty leaving her chair and going about cleaning her room and going through her closet in search of what seemed to be a dress.

"You going out?" The brunette perched on her bed broke the stillness as he eyed the range of colorful, cocktail dresses she had chosen and laid out at the foot end of the bed in the last few minutes.

[It's our anniversary ❤] Celty typed back, her black smoke billowing into the shape of a large heart as she skipped back to her closet surrounded by the air of a little girl. [Shinra said he'd take me out to a fancy restaurant tonight to celebrate] she continued excitedly as she came back, setting yet another sea blue dress down over a red dress she'd pulled out earlier.

_"Hnnn"_ the brunette sitting in front of her hummed quietly, his mind drifting elsewhere for another few minutes, until Celty finally came up to him after another stretch of awkward silence, insistently sticking her PDA in his face once more.

"BE ANNOYING!" He read her words dully off the screen, before lifting an eyebrow up at her.

[You're not acting like yourself, be annoying - the way you usually are] she explained, lifting her device out into the informant's face again.

"Gee, _thanks"_ Izaya huffed dryly, "nice to know how you feel"

[What's wrong?]

The brunette gave the woman a skeptical scowl.

[Seriously, no one's ever gotten you to shut up for _this _long before. What's wrong? Talk to me.]

Izaya stared at her screen for a long moment before quietly raising his eyes up to where her head had been severed off her body.

"The yellow scarves..." He stated quietly after a long three minutes, looking down at the mug in his hands.

[What about them?] The dullahan inquired as she pulled a dark blue dress up into her arms, sitting back down into the chair beside him and producing a black needle and thread from her shadows as she settled down.

"They've been acting up lately" Izaya frowned.

[You mean about the murder attempt with the Yakuza leader?]

"But Kida already said that he had nothing to do with that" the informant muttered absentmindedly.

[And you believe him?] the woman paused just as she was about to stitch up a rip in the dress she was holding, to type out the question.

"When he left this place, he honestly didn't want anything to do with the underworld anymore..." the informant muttered quietly, as he cast a sidelong glance at the sleeping figure beside him.

[But?] Celty urged from beside him.

"….it's…. _suspicious…." _Izaya muttered, turning back to glance up at the ceiling, as he rested the his head against the headboard, "_…_that he's appeared back in the city on the day the Yakuza top dog was shot -" he paused for a second, seemingly mulling over something in his head before he continued in a quieter voice, "…they'll be keeping an eye on him whether he says he's responsible for this whole thing or not..." he finished, a faint but noticeable frown building up in his features as he analyzed the situation.

Beside him, Celty's fingers drummed restlessly on the mini keyboard of her PDA as she spelt out what she had to say next.

[Shouldn't we do something about him?] She demanded worriedly, [What if the yakuza try to make him pay for what the yellow scarves did?!]

"They won't" Izaya replied flatly, "not until I confirm their suspicion"

[Will you?] Celty smoke darkened.

Izaya shrugged taking a sip of tea, "I lose my reputation as ace informant if I lie"

[PROTECT HIM!] Celty seemed to snap, [he's only a CHILD!]

"If what he's saying is the truth - then that's what I stick too, if he's lying then I can't do anything about it" Izaya proclaimed as he set his empty cup down in his lap, "The yakuza will get to him, torture him, kill him and then wipe out the yellow scarves as a warning to the rest of the color gangs to stay out of their hair - that's how shit like this usually goes down in this city."

Celty's twitched irritably.

"You've been in this city longer than I have, you should _know _that already" Izaya finished, throwing her a narrow glance accompanied with the faintest of smug smirks.

The dullahan let off a phantom frown in response, deciding to go back to sewing together the small rip in the dress she had decided to where to her special dinner.

On the bed beside her, Izaya finished up his mug of tea before shifting around - making an effort to swing his legs around and over the edge of the bed.

[What're you doing?] Celty typed irritably onto her screen as he pressed his arms against the edge of the mattress attempting to haul himself off it. [You're _injured_, Shinra said the damage could be permanent if you move around.]

"Have to...get home" Izaya winced at the prickly sensation running down his back as he placed his feet on the floor, struggling with balancing his weight on them as he did.

[Oh, just sit down already! Your boss already gave you a few days off-] Celty abruptly stopped typing, dropping the device and hurriedly reaching out to grab the small man's arm when he slipped, stumbling over his own feet with a surprised yelp.

'What're you _doing?'_ She almost wanted to question his mentality, but decided against seeing as how she currently didn't have her PDA to type it out, nor did the glare on Izaya's face seem to make her want to provoke him any further.

Snatching his left arm out of her grasp, the informant hissed warningly at her - before abruptly jerking away and heading off towards the room door with uneven steps.

Celty swiftly snatched her PDA off the bed, following him out just in case.

A few embarrassing stumbles and catches from from the jumpy dullahan later, Izaya was slumped against the elevator outside Shinra's flat with a worried the worried woman fidgeting around on her feet in front of him. She hadn't done anything to stop him yet, worried that he might struggle against her and kill himself while he was at it by bleeding out. _Not _the ideal situation for either this idiot of an informant _nor_ her husband who'd worked himself to the bone trying to keep him breathing when Shizuo had first brought them in.

[Are you sure about this?] she swallowed worriedly [you're looking a little sick already, why don't you just go back to bed?]

"Just take me home will you?" The informant snapped edgily.

[Izaya, you'll seriously catch a fever like this-]

"And my house'll catch _**death**_ seeing as how my _sisters_ are _in it_ right now - so take me home already before they demolish that half of the city, will you?!"

Celty twitched upon remembering the horrific tales of the Orihara twins Shizuo had briefed her with. Swallowing again, she nervously wiggled her toes in her boots as she glanced back at her apartment door - considering the warning her husband had given her about Izaya and Shizuo being out of bed too soon - before shrugging it off with a puff of smoke that resembled a sigh.

He wasn't an _idiot _– she could trust that Izaya wouldn't go do anything dumb, seeing as how even _he _could understand the seriousness of the wounds inflicted on him – regardless the tiny fact that he wasn't human. Mentality-wise.

Plus Shinra must've trusted that he knew enough to take care of himself as well seeing as how he'd only given the sedative to Shizuo out of worry that he'd go kill himself the minute he'd been patched up. Izaya hadn't been given any, so maybe it'd be alright somehow...?

The dullahan let out a sigh in the form of a sudden puff of black smoke.

[Let's go] she typed hesitantly on her PDA as she walked across the mini garage she normally left her motorcycle parked in outside their flat.

Izaya followed unsteadily after her, letting her help him up behind her on the vehicle seeing as how it wasn't anatomically possible with all his injuries at the moment. He was handed a helmet Celty created on the spot with her shadows a minute later when she got onto the bike herself.

[Ready?] She inquired holding the device over her shoulder once she'd made sure Izaya's arms were secured around her stomach instead of balanced on the seat under him seeing as how his right arm currently wasn't dealing well with any pressure put on it.

"I'm FINE, _mom_" Izaya snapped sarcastically, "just hurry up - I wanna get home before that caveman wakes up."

The woman in front of him sighed inwardly at his prickliness, before shrugging to herself and stepping on the gas pedal.

The race against wind through the sleepless city didn't take long. When the police weren't patrolling her part of Ikebukuro, Celty usually went at this speed, a tad bit above the speed limit - but safe when it came to a vehicle in her hands. Besides her motorcycle wasn't like others; it was animal, a living, _breathing _animal that understood lives were at stake if it couldn't keep its speed in check.

It took around a half hour with all the night traffic, but Izaya had managed to stay awake by the time they'd reached his flat.

She nudged him out of his daze as she pulled up in front of the skyscraper's doors; and he sat up tiredly, glancing up from behind her as he let his wary gaze roam the building beside them with a demoralizing sigh.

"Here goes nothing..." he muttered quietly to himself, as the dullahan grabbed his arm - helping him balance himself as he got off the bike.

[Should I take you to your room? You look like you're going fall over any minute now...] Celty inquired, concern evident in her words - much to the informant's annoyance.

"I'm not a little _girl_" he snapped back uncharacteristically, "I can get to my room by my fucking self, _THANKS"_ and with that he stumbled off towards the building ahead of him with steps that seemed to grow more and more unbalanced with every minute.

The Dullahan standing behind him over her bike fidgeted nervously with her fingers as she watched the building doorman walk over to help him, catching him every few seconds as he tripped off to the elevator at the end of the lobby inside the skyscraper.

Shinra had told her to make sure the two stay in bed till the next morning - at _least_ the next morning otherwise the wounds and the stitching would start opening up again.

That had mostly been meant for Shizuo who everyone else was sure would wake up and go out to embrace his violent life; but Izaya was a smidge brighter than that, wasn't he? Granted, he was a tad bit batty up there, but he wouldn't do anything as drastic as running around and fighting in his condition now, would he? That was more of a Shizuo thing; but then again, with people like Izaya, you could never tell….

Celty's smoke blew out into and exasperated cloud of faint distress as she shook the thought off before dropping back down onto the seat of her bike. Turning her neck to the side so that she catch another last glimpse of the brunette just as she disappeared into the elevator, she sincerely hoped he'd stay put and take care of himself, before zooming off into the city.

Back in the skyscraper of a housing complex his family owned, Izaya growled and grumbled under his breath about having to be fucking _babied_; first by Celty and now the doorman's name he could never remember for the life of him, all the way up to the apartment he knew would be in shambles thanks to his sisters and their wild streak.

"I'm _fine"_ he snapped coolly shoving the doorman off when he stumbled in front of his flat door as he pulled out his door key.

"Sir-" the taller started worriedly.

"I'm FINE, ok?" Izaya hissed, jamming his keys into the keyhole with more force than necessary, "will you just leave now? Please? What if some thief breaks in with you gone downstairs?"

"But Oriharai-san-"

"Take a _hike, _will you?!" the brunette cut off snappily as the door to his apartment swung open, "- before I make sure you lose job" he finished sharply, without sparing the man a glance as he stepped into his flat and slammed the door shut behind him with an irritated sigh.

Glancing around the apartment, he felt a little relief seep into his being.

It wasn't _horrible._

Sure, burnt clothes were strewn over his desk, his laptop was lying in two cracked pieces on the floor, one of his bookshelves completely charred to the floor - not to mention the television which had melted through for some reason... It wasn't all _that _horrible. At least not as bad as _last _time.

At least Mairu hadn't shattered _all_ the windows in his house this time, at least it looked like the twins had _tried_ to _somehow_ clean up their damage - at least it wasn't - _oh, who was he kidding?_

Izaya groaned as he eyed his wasted laptop.

Why did they have to be as destructive as he was? Wasn't ONE freak in the family enough?

He sighed at the thought as he stepped around what looked like a heap of three or four burnt panties and bras as he made his across the carpeted floor - or what was left of it - to the kitchen, which seemed to be the source of all this chaos.

Where were they anyway? Their parents had disowned them after finding out about their whole incestuous relationship thing and Izaya for some _outlandishly _idiotic reason had taken pity on them.

Thinking about it now, had he been drunk or something? To be accepting these two devils into his life...his _brain_ must've been out of order back then. Shizuo must've punched him too hard in the head or something….

But then again he was their brother.

And said brother groaned as he limped into his kitchen to see his formerly spotless, whitewash walls smothered over with soot; ash lying in mountainous _heaps_ under the counters and in the dark, musty corners of the room to accompany it, no less.

He sighed softly, slowly closing his eyes, attempting and failing to repress the urge to _punch _something as hard as he possibly could.

A _day._

He'd left them alone for a _day;_ left his precious million dollar flat in their incapable hands for a _day_ and this was what happened...

The informant twitched sharply at thought as it floated tauntingly through his head.

These twins of his….

_"Mairuuuuu?"_ He called out, rubbing a hand over the deepening frown carved into his forehead, too tired to yell her name out loud. _"Kururiiiiiiii?"_ he stretched the name out as well after a minute of waiting for a reply.

Oh, come on - the two hadn't created this and left him to _clean _this shit of theirs, had they? They could've at least called a maid or Namie or _someone_ to do something about all...THIS. Izaya wrinkled his nose as he looked out over the destruction, while he stepped out of the kitchen heading towards the staircase on the other side of the hall.

Climbing it was a _bitch._

An utter and complete _bitch _- a bigger bitch than his mother, now _that_ was saying something because she was the biggest bitch Izaya knew. She WAS after all the woman he'd gotten his own insufferable personality from...

So it was understandable to say that he was pretty much _dead_ when he reached the top; blood soaking through and dripping messily from the bandage around his thigh as he sank against the wall for a few minutes to catch his breath.

_HOW_ Shizuo walked around right after being shot, hauling up vending machines and lamp posts while he was at it like it was nothing, still came a wonder to the brunette who was struggling with walking; just _walking _to begin with.

"Ugh..." He groaned again, this time at the nauseous feeling of pain mixing together with mounting dizziness and fatigue as he straightened back up again - heading towards the room across from his.

Sliding across the wall, gripping aimlessly at its smooth plaster for support he peeked into their room - grabbing onto the sides of the doorframe when he stumbled. Peering into the darkness, he waited for a moment while his eyes grew accustomed to the blackness before heaving a soft sigh with the faintest of subconscious smiles as he made out the two of them sleeping soundly on their blanket - curled up against the coldness of the night seeping through their window.

Sighing, he slumped against the left side of the door frame, his head resting against its wood as he watched them sleep.

_Yes._ He sighed closing his eyes as he rested against the wood on his left, losing the heart to shake them awake and demand an explanation to what had happened to his house.

_Yes. _

He _had _taken pity on them. He _had _brought them back into his life on his own accord on the grounds that, one; their parents had been severely harsh on them about their relationship, and two, he was the only person they could turn to for help against people like _them._

He put up with them because despite them and their glaringly obvious flaws because in the end, he was still their brother and he still somehow loved them in some weird twisted sibling way – despite the fact that they'd hand him over to Shizuo at any time for a chance to meet the man's brother. They were family; and for some reason that actually meant something. Whether it was because he was having a rare human moment, or if it was because these two monsters were the only ones on the planet that could ever actually understand him – he would never know. Not that he exactly cared anyway.

Sighing, he rolled his eyes at the random sentimental moment, before carefully walking in, half trying not to wake them up (because god forbid, what chaos would happen then?) and half trying to ease the screaming of his agonized muscles.

Padding over to the open window, he lifted his uninjured arm to pull it shut, slightly wincing at how the pressure stung at his chest wound. Dragging the glass down to the window sill, he pulled the lock - clamping it shut over the center hook, before drawing the curtains shut and turning around.

He stood there for a moment, taking in the peace on their faces - wishing he could say the same for himself before shaking out of it and leaning down so that he could pull the blanket over their curled figures - "tsk" he broke off, scowling down at his coat pocket when his phone started vibrating.

Glancing down at his right hand, he willed it to move for a few seconds - before rolling his eyes in irritation at the blast of pain that the movement caused instead. Dropping the blanket halfway up onto the twins, he reached down and grabbed his phone with his uninjured hand, flipping it open and pressing it to his ear as he turned away from the bed.

_"WHAT_ Shinra?" He frowned deeply, "if this is about the stitching, I know to how to do the bandaging, every three hours-"

**"IZAYA** **_RUN!"_**

The informant blinked. Once, twice - thrice. "Excuse me-?"

"They're after you!" the doctor on the other gasped, his voice sounding too terrified and real to be part of a scam, "The yellow scarves were ordered to kill you and-**_MNH!"_**

"And...?" The brunette on the phone blinked, "Shinra?" he frowned, pulling his phone away from his ear he stared curiously down at it before bringing it back up to his ear, "Shinra?" He tried again, "Shinra - what...?"

He pulled the device back down, hurriedly dialing the doctor's number again and waiting.

Two minutes.

_And no answer._

The informant gritted his teeth.

Immediately switching to texting.

[Celty, where are you?]

He waited after that, biting his lip when time began to stretch. One, two-five...seven minutes – **_[CELTY!]_**

_"Che-!" _he bit his lower lip harshly, cursing darkly under his breath, as he curled a tight fist around the back of his phone – _Shiki._

The informant blinked blankly, slightly out of it for a moment as he stared at the caller ID blinking on his phone – before jumping when he came to terms with the fact that his boss was calling. Namely the boss who could help him with whatever the fuck Shinra had just been screaming about.

"Shiki, good timing" he greeted immediately as he pulled the device up to his ear, "listen, Shinra just-"

_"Izaya" _

"- called up saying something about the yellow scarves" the brunette continued, ignoring his boss, "apparently someone's back to leading them again - and its _not _Kida, they were just ordered to kill-"

_"Izaya…"_

"- me and something else, except Shinra-"

_"IZAYA!" _Shiki barked, and the informant abruptly quieted down – just then realizing that the man was calling by his _first _name instead of his last.

"Shiki?" he frowned, "wha-?"

"Shut up and listen to me for a minute will you?! This is _important!" _the latter snapped loudly, making the informant blink curiously at the tinge of desperation he picked up his boss' voice.

"I'm liste-"

"Something up over here, and they won't let me on what the hell they're doing" Shiki's voice grew hushed as he hurriedly started, "the yellow scarves were paid off by someone down here, and for some reason the big boss thinks that someone is _you."_

"Me?" Izaya frowned, "but I didn't-"

"I _know _you didn't – which is why I find it suspicious that they're blaming you without any hard evidence" Shiki's voice sank into a whisper, while the informant on the other line felt a slow cramp creeping up through his wounded body.

"Izaya, you know how things work in this world" he continued quietly.

"What….are you saying….?" The informant breathed quietly even though he knew the answer.

"You _know _what I'm saying" – and apparently Shiki knew that he knew the answer as well – "The Yakuza -"

"- are after me…?" Izaya finished softly under his breath for him making the question sound more like a statement, his red eyes straying towards his sisters as he caught the look of peace and tranquility on their faces once more.

"…yes, I just don't know what they're planning this …." He heard his boss mutter off somewhere in the background as he put the situation together in his head, tuning Shiki out while he was at it.

The yellow scarves had attempted to the kill the Yakuza top dog. Kida conveniently shows up on the same day, and a certain informant is sent out to do a little digging only to have a murder attempt forced onto _him _as well. A day passes, and suddenly the Yakuza top dog decides he's guilty.

Izaya's guilty.

On absolutely _no _solid grounding to back the accusation up.

Wonderful.

And now that the big boss had tagged him, he'd be red flagged; and every freak in town would be after him the minute the man put a bounty over his head.

"Heh…." The brunette laughed mirthlessly; not even sure why he just had.

It was almost ironic in a way.

Up till now, he'd been setting gangs on Shizuo using the endless piles of money lying around Orihara Clan; and now the tables had suddenly turned with a something billion number on his life.

How very nice.

"….And after all I've _done _for you bastards…." Izaya hummed quietly through his thoughts, the cramp that had been clenching at his veins turning into a phantom ache he couldn't seem to shake off.

"I'm sorr-"

"You're _not_" the brunette hissed coldly before he could finish, "you could fucking care _less _if….." – he abruptly trailed off when a distinctive crash suddenly rang out through his apartment.

"Shiki…." He breathed, taking a slow step back towards the window he'd just closed as his eyes flew wide, senses alert, "Shiki….what….?" he whispered, his pulse racing as his keen hearing began to pick up what sounded like the faint thump of footsteps in his flat.

_He wasn't armed, he couldn't fight! _– was the informant's first frantic thought as desperation began seeping into his system. He'd abused his leg wound enough as it already was, so the option of jumping out the window was ruled out because he'd break his leg upon the impact of landing and be left a sitting _duck _for the bastards. His right arm was downright _useless _as far as _anything _went, so he'd lost his fighting arm – the aim of the scalpels and knives he usually fought Shizuo back with would be horrendously off – _thump, thump._

The informant's eyes widened further as an eerie sensation grew over him alongside an epiphany, while the steps his hearing had zeroed in on began stomping up the stairs he'd dragged himself over not too long ago.

_He was defenseless. _

He could hide of course, but that would leave the twins….he worriedly glanced down, considering waking them up.

Mairu was a fighter; a fearless one at that; and Kururi took after him and his skill with blades.

But they weren't good enough.

Not for the Yakuza. Enough for the pitiful color gangs, but definitely not the kings of underground trafficking and trade.

Izaya swallowed the phone in his hand forgotten as he let his left arm drop to his side.

Dropping the device onto the floor, he let his eyes rest on his sisters' sleeping forms.

The dull thuds of the foreign steps sounded louder and the brunette subconsciously calculated a set seven…..males…. judging from the heaviness of the resounding claps of their shoes against the floor.

A faint, defeated smile darkened his face as he traced the outline of the spare knives in the right front pocket of his skinny jeans.

_He was screwed._

If he fought, he would lose. His wounds were bad enough as it already was – he'd be tearing Shinra's careful stitching back open, then bleed out in a matter of seconds to an unsightly death. And then his sisters…

… would be left alone…

Their parents had already thrown them out onto the streets refusing them their inheritance, having them kicked out of their school not three days later; their aunts and uncles had followed in suit, rejecting them as punishment for what they shared, and now if he ended up _dying _they'd be left with no one in the world to care for them, wouldn't they?

Under normal circumstances he would've trusted that Shinra and Celty to take the two under their wing if it ever came to this, but seeing as how _neither _seemed to be around….

Izaya smiled weakly at his cursed fate.

_God really hated his guts didn't he….?_

The informant smiled up at the heavens nonetheless as he began humming softly under his breath – a lullaby his mother had always sung to him as a child when he'd had trouble sleeping – as the steps of his 'guests' came closer.

Letting his hand drop away from where his knives where sheathed in his pocket, he brought his left hand to his immobile right; fingers finding the silver ring on his right index and working it off. He did the same with the piece's left counterpart, somehow managing to screw it off his finger with the other four fingers before he leaned down over his sisters.

Reaching for Kururi first, he slipped his hand under head, guiding her right hand out in his grasp before slipping the first ring onto her middle finger and placing her hand down. He dropped a knee onto the mattress a second later, balancing himself as he stretched to the far end of the bed to pluck at Mairu's hand and slip his second ring onto her own middle finger before letting her hand drop as well. Standing back up, he reached into his pocket, his fingers embracing the chill of the knives he knew so well as he pulled them out before bending down and slipping the ten small blades under Kururi's pillow and then another ten under Mairu's.

_Three more steps…._- he counted in his head as the numbered the fall of boots on his charred carpet.

Straightening up a few inches, he caught the blanket he'd dropped earlier and carefully pulled it up over the girls, up to their necks where he let the comforter drop before tucking them in.

_Two more steps…_

"Gomenna **(sorry)**…." He whispered softly over their heads, with the smallest of smiles before he slowly stood back up and began walking around the bed.

_One more step…_

Coming to halt at the opposite side of the mattress, he glanced up to the door – breathing in deeply and letting the breath out a moment later as he sat down beside Mairu and waited for what was to come.

_Thirty more seconds…. Twenty….._

Izaya closed his eyes.

_…ten…._

God, he was going to kill Shizuo someday.

_… nine…_

It _had _been during a fight with that protozoan that he'd been shot and torn up into this useless condition after all.

_…eight…_

And now he couldn't fucking _fight._

_… seven…_

He'd wasted a day in bed, bleeding out beside the man while he could've been running for his fucking _life._

_… six…_

And now Shinra was missing.

_…five…_

Celty too…judging from how she always texted back instantly.

_…four…_

And this just _had _to be that one day in his life where he suddenly felt like being brotherly for once hadn't it?

_…three…_

Well, at least the twins would know that he hadn't just _abandoned _them like the rest of their family; courtesy of the rings.

_… two…_

So, this was it, huh?

_…one…_

Izaya smiled softly; the first real smile he'd ever worn in his life as time froze for an instant before running out.

_...zero..._

* * *

__Read and Review please? . I'd _love _to hear what you guys have to say about this, so _yoroshku onagaishimasu! _XDv Shizaya should be coming up soon BTW, next chapter or the one after it for sure; nothing crazy and sexy - just...well, I don't wanna ruin it for you guys ^^v Guess you'll just have to read the next chappie to find out ;P


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